Leaked documents have revealed details of a concerted campaign by US intelligence agencies to find ways of extracting encryption keys used by Apple in its products and snoop upon the activities of millions of users worldwide.

Four members of the notorious LulzSec hacking gang, who attacked websites belonging to the likes of the CIA, the NHS and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), are due to be sentenced by the UK authorities.

Southwark Crown Court in London has heard that three members of the LulzSec hacking gang have chosen to plead guilty to charges that they launched distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against a series of organisations including the CIA and the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency.